Thousands of home supporters stayed away from the Emirates Stadium for the second time in just over a week following another mass no-show during their 3-0 defeat to Manchester City.

That match took place in the midst of the Beast from the East, the weather front that brought snow and freezing temperatures across the UK, with Sunday’s repeat prompting Gary Neville to post on Twitter: “Must be -4 and snowing again at the Emirates.”

But the apathy that has set in at Arsenal was no laughing matter for their manager, who blamed the no-show on a “nightmare” run of four defeats in just over a week.

“Yes, of course I worry because I want our fans to be behind the team and happy,” Wenger said after a game that followed a fans forum at which chief executive Ivan Gazidis pointedly refused to discuss the Frenchman’s future.

“But after what happened in that week, it’s a bit understanding - you know - we are in a job, we have to get the fans on our side and do absolutely everything to do it, to achieve it; that’s what you want to do after that.”

Wenger also acknowledged there had been “a lot of negativity” around in the build-up to Thursday’s Europa League win at AC Milan that ended Arsenal’s losing run.

“It’s like rain in England - it’s easy to get,” he said. “I focus on my job and I think I’ve shown in 22 years that I can do that, that I respect everybody's opinion and do my job with total commitment.”

Wenger declared that victory showed Arsenal were close to turning a corner, adding: “It was difficult but overall it gets us out a little bit of that negative spiral we were in.”

A 3-0 win flattered Arsenal, with Petr Cech being named man of the match far more revealing than the scoreline.

Cech made a string of saves, including keeping out a penalty for the first time since joining the club, to become - finally - the first goalkeeper to record 200 Premier League clean sheets.

The milestone was achieved a week after the 35-year-old’s self-confessed horror show at Brighton & Hove Albion and came 11 games after his previous shutout.

Cech saved Troy Deeney's penaltyCredit:
Getty Images

Hailing Cech as one of the Premier League’s greatest keepers, Wenger said: “In two weeks, his situation shows how football is: in one week, he went from hell to heaven.

“I like the two situations because, in the first situation, he’s shown a lot of humility and responsibility and a record like that is a lot of motivation and a huge level of intelligence.

“You don’t last for such a long time in the game if you’re not intelligent.”

Cech added: “It is an unbelievable personal milestone. The first 18 games with nine clean sheets got me to 199 but then the last 11 games was sometimes frustrating.”